Millennium Falcon

Despite her humble origins and shabby exterior, the Millennium Falcon has played a role in some of the greatest victories of the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic. The Falcon looks like a worn-out junker, but beneath her hull she’s full of surprises. A succession of owners, from Lando Calrissian and Han Solo to Gannis Ducain, have made special modifications that boosted the freighter’s speed, shielding and firepower to impressive – and downright illegal – levels. The price of such tinkering? The Falcon can be unpredictable, with her hyperdrive particularly balky. Despite her flaws, she’s beloved by her owners – Han Solo and Chewbacca have spent years searching the galaxy for the ship they once called home.

video

GALLERY //

galleries

Soundboard //

games + apps

Quotes //

"You know, that ship's saved my life quite a few times. She's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy!"

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

textobject

“She may not look like much but she’s got it where it counts, kid.”

A NEW HOPE

textobject

“What a piece of junk!”

A NEW HOPE

textobject

HISTORY //

GALACTIC CIVIL WAR

When Obi-Wan Kenobi hired Han Solo and Chewbacca for a charter to Alderaan, the Jedi specified that he needed a fast ship. Han assured him he’d found one -- hadn’t the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? When Luke Skywalker first saw the battered freighter, he was convinced they’d been hoodwinked -- the Falcon looked like she might fall apart in her docking bay. But the Falcon lived up to her captain’s boasts, escaping the Imperial warships guarding Tatooine and proving maneuverable and tough in a firefight with TIE fighters patrolling space around the Death Star. Han and Chewie were at the Falcon’s controls when they blasted Darth Vader and his TIE wingmen off Luke’s tail, giving the young Rebel the chance to make the million-to-one shot that destroyed the Death Star.

Han decided to leave his friends with the Rebel Alliance and pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt, but the Falcon wouldn’t cooperate -- he and Chewbacca spent hours in Echo Base’s hangar trying to get the balky freighter back in flying shape. Han barely got the Falcon off the ground, escaping Hoth just ahead of Darth Vader’s shock troops, but her hyperdrive failed with Star Destroyers and TIE fighters in hot pursuit. Unable to go into lightspeed, Han sought refuge in an asteroid field, where he made frantic repairs -- but the hyperdrive failed again. Han used every trick known to Corellians to escape and limp to the nearby star system of Bespin, where Lando Calrissian’s techs fixed the Falcon. Lando didn’t know the Imperials -- who encased Han in carbonite in Cloud City -- had deactivated her hyperdrive as a safeguard against escape attempts, but fortunately R2-D2 discovered the sabotage. The little droid reactivated the hyperdrive, allowing the freighter and her crew to escape.

Lando and Chewbacca discovered Boba Fett had taken Han to Tatooine, and hid the Falcon while they infiltrated Jabba the Hutt’s palace to rescue their friend. Han then lent his beloved ship to Lando for the Rebel attack on the second Death Star at Endor. The Falcon maneuvered like a fighter in the chaotic battle, diving into the battle station’s labyrinthine superstructure. Lando fired concussion missiles into the Death Star’s main reactor and raced for the surface, escaping just as the station exploded. The lowly freighter, once derided as a piece of junk, had destroyed the Empire’s greatest weapon.

THE FIRST ORDER

After her star turn at the Battle of Endor, the Millennium Falcon was part of several key New Republic victories over the Empire’s remnants – and further semi-legal adventures pursued by Han and Chewie. But the duo lost their beloved freighter to Gannis Ducain, and spent years trying to find her again. Meanwhile, the Falcon kept changing hands, going from Ducain to the Irving Boys before winding up under a tarp on Jakku.

Han and Chewie reclaimed the Falcon, but Han died shortly after getting to see his beloved ship again. Chewie and the scavenger Rey – who’d stolen the Falcon from Unkar Plutt on Jakku – then piloted the freighter into the Unknown Regions on a quest to find Luke Skywalker.